Dandelion Dilemma
Growing up in Mississippi and then living in Texas for most of my life I had one opinion of dandelions—they were weeds and I wanted nothing to do with them. However, since I have lived in Colorado for almost 10 years, I have made an interesting observation. Although the state flower is the Columbine, it looks to me like it should be the dandelion. In the spring no one seems to care that what is considered a weed everywhere else that I have lived is allowed to grow freely…in yards…in fields…on city maintained property…in flower beds…everywhere. Since no one makes any effort to get rid of the pesky little flowers they grow bigger than I ever imagined possible. In fact I have measured one of the yellow flowers as large as 2 and a half inches in diameter. While the little yellow flowers do make quite a pretty sight when in bloom, they fade quickly and then form puffs of seeds that make them proliferate, compounding the problem. However, I have been told that the dandelion plant does ...